Restoring Tools and Woodworking Antiques: A Conversation With Antique Tool Collector Mike Jenkins
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Steve Stack:
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American and European Hand Planes
Steve Stack:
Hey, ladies and gentlemen. I’m Steve Stack here in Studio 3B at Baird Brothers Fine Hardwoods. We are joined once again by our friend Mr. Mike Jenkins, our resident antique woodworking tool expert and historian. Do you want to know something about an antique tool? Mike has been there and done that. Mike, thanks for stopping by again.
Mike Jenkins:
You’re very welcome. Thank you for having me.
Steve Stack:
We met a while back and instantly connected because we have some common interests. You’ve studied tools a lot throughout the years. You’ve learned from your own research, schooling, and asking people questions along the way. We enjoy having you here to talk about this stuff.
On your first visit down here, I remember we talked about the big jointing planes we have. I set two of them down. You said, “Yeah, that one’s European. That one’s American.” It makes sense that a lot of the woodworking tools started in Europe and then came across. Then Americans got their hands on them and said, “Why don’t we change this or that to try and improve them possibly?” Speaking of jointing planes, what is the major difference between a European design and an American design?
Mike Jenkins:
I guess the easiest way to recognize the difference is the location of the handle. The handle on the European jointing or trying planes will be nearer to the end. Apparently, when Americans started to design them, they thought it would behave a little bit better if the handle was closer to the throat. So the American version is more centered than the European tool.
Steve Stack:
I found it interesting that on both, the handle is shaped very similarly to what a lot of us are familiar with: a hand saw handle. And, it’s mounted to the jointer plane-
Mike Jenkins:
A chunk of wood.
Steve Stack:
The body of the jointer plane. I guess there are pros and cons. It might just be which one you’re more comfortable with if you’re using it.
Mike Jenkins:
The evolution of the handle location has also changed. The handle on early American planes is not centered from the left to right. It’s a little bit more to the right. Then, if you look at the later jointer or trying planes, it’s more centered between the right and the left.
Steve Stack:
That also holds true in some of the adzes for forming beams and so forth. You pointed out to me one time that it has an intentionally bowed or offset handle to it.
Mike Jenkins:
It’s not the adze. It’s on what they would call the broad ax.
Steve Stack:
The broad ax, excuse me. Yes.
Mike Jenkins:
The handle on the broad ax was designed to give relief for your knuckles, so they don’t hit the beam. If you had the blade here and the handle here, your knuckles are likely going to be hitting that. But, if the handle is offset, then you’ve got a little bit of relief.
Steve Stack:
I’m thinking of a broad ax that we have. There’s probably a two-and-a-half-inch swing with a curvature on the handle. It makes perfect sense. When you bust your knuckles enough times on the side of that beam, you’re going to go home at night and work on a new handle. I’m sure we see a lot of that through all of the different tools that we use.
Mike Jenkins:
Trial and error. You keep improving, keep modifying until it gets to the perfect point.
New vs. Old Hand Tools
Steve Stack:
Working with antique woodworking tools is not something you pick up and catch onto right away. It’s an acquired, developed skill set.
Mike Jenkins:
Definitely. The first time you use a wooden plane, it’s very, very awkward. But, after you use it for a while and you get some muscle memory, you realize how to handle it. You learn how to hold the plane so it cuts the moulding correctly.
Steve Stack:
You learn what is pressure-sensitive. Some things you’ve got to force. Other things, you’ve got to baby. That’s the learning curve, and it’s still true with today’s modern equipment. Not everyone can pick up an electric circular saw and be comfortable with it right off the bat.
Mike Jenkins:
It’s loud to start with.
Steve Stack:
Yes. That’s one advantage of the old tools, right? You talk about old tools versus new tools. In different applications, one will hold superiority over the other. When it comes to a production mentality, newer tools are much more efficient.
Mike Jenkins:
No question.
Steve Stack:
But there are some old tools that even new technology can’t duplicate.
Mike Jenkins:
I’m not sure if I’m going to agree with that. I think technology can pretty much duplicate everything I can think of.
Steve Stack:
To an extent. You’ve done enough woodworking. I’m thinking of a drawer box. What’s the joinery called at the corner of the boxes?
Mike Jenkins:
A dovetail.
Steve Stack:
Dovetails. Yeah, you can buy a dovetail fixture for your router, but it’s not that same old keyhole look.
Mike Jenkins:
No, it’s not the same effect but it’s much, much more rapid to do it with the jig.
Steve Stack:
Then we’ll go from rapid back to the authentic hand-cut dovetail. There’s the look.
Mike Jenkins:
Oh, the look is amazing. I love to look at a piece of furniture that has old hand-cut tight dovetails. It’s amazing that someone had the ability and skill to make those dovetails so tight.
Steve Stack:
Considering the saw they were using and the layout equipment they had, they were very precise. And, they’ve held up to the test of time.
Mike Jenkins:
You’ll see a 200-year-old blanket chest that’s still nice and firm.
Steve Stack:
Yeah. Nice, snug and tight, unless it was introduced to adverse conditions. Everything’s nice and flush. It just goes together like a glove. It says a lot about the handiwork. So, can you think of any old tools that have an application that might be better than today?
Mike Jenkins:
Every tool I’m thinking of off the top of my head can be duplicated using modern technology and machines more quickly. There are planes and chisels. Now we have power sanders instead of having to scrape a surface smooth. You start off with coarse grit sandpaper. You end with fine sandpaper and get a nice, smooth surface.
Steve Stack:
As you’re speaking and I’m listening, one scenario came to mind. In reproduction work, you may have to go old school with some of the cutters and so forth. If it came out of a beating cutter knife from a Stanley No. 45, yeah, we have routers and beating bits for the routers. But, they might be a skosh different.
Mike Jenkins:
It’s possible. The quality of the old workmanship is superior to the quality of a new reproduction. It looks the same, but if you look at the details, there are some shortcuts that modern technology took that perhaps reduced the quality.
Steve Stack:
A lot of it has to do with the joinery. Joinery back in the day was multifunctional. It was very intriguing to look at, but it was the strength of the cabinetry.
Mike Jenkins:
If you tear apart an old Empire chest of drawers, there will be a double tenon going into a double mortise. Today, why do two when one will do? Well, one will do, but it’s not as strong.
Steve Stack:
I see it here at Baird. I’ve also admired a tool that you had on display with Wayne up at I-76 Antique Mall; it was a crown plane.
Mike Jenkins:
A crown moulder.
Steve Stack:
A crown moulder, okay. It intrigued me the first time I saw it because I looked at it and thought, “Son of a gun, that is very similar to our profile B3070.”
Mike Jenkins:
That’s a crown moulding plane that has about a four-and-a-half-inch wide blade and it’s rather heavy. It probably weighs four pounds or so. But if you were pushing this against a piece of wood and trying to form a shape in the wood, it takes a lot of horsepower. They had what were called apprentice handles. The apprentice pulled on the two handles. Then, the craftsman pushed with his handle. Between the two, you got through that piece of wood a little quicker.
Steve Stack:
I picked up a piece of our B3070 crown moulding this morning. What type of wood are those normally made out of?
Mike Jenkins:
Beech. Most of them, or most commonly, you’ll see beech. Sometimes you’ll see apple, birch, and occasionally some other tropical woods.
Steve Stack:
It was eerie when I saw how similar the crown cutter was up at I-76 Antique Mall. It was, what, 100 plus years later?
Mike Jenkins:
This is probably an 1820 crown moulder, so 200 years old.
Steve Stack:
Unbelievable. So, this is a piece of equipment. With today’s advancements in woodwork manufacturing, we have a set of cutters that matches that profile. Now, those will be inserted into a shaper head or a motorhead spinning at a very high RPM. We’ll do this in one pass at somewhere between 40 to 50 lineal feet per minute. I wouldn’t even want to guess how long it would take me to work on a 10-foot piece because of the stock you’re removing from that piece.
Mike Jenkins:
This is not a one-pass plane. You would have to do multiple passes to get all of that wood removed.
Steve Stack:
That’s why when you look at old photographs and see those guys in the shop, they all had huge biceps. Because I don’t care whether you were pushing or pulling that thing. Oh, my. When you understand the method behind that and see older homes with intricate woodwork, you have a completely different appreciation of what was tried and done.
Mike Jenkins:
You also see it on furniture. A piece of furniture is a piece of furniture, but once you add moulding to it (either a waist moulding or crown moulding at the top), it adds to the proportionality. It just makes the piece of furniture look so much more attractive.
Steve Stack:
A great example from here in our workshop and studio corner is the proportion of the panel configuration for the columns. It was hundreds, hundreds and hundreds of years old when it was figured out. There’s an actual scale that you can use, similar to a slide scale. When you expand it, the different areas graduate. It’s used in furniture. It’s used in window sizes on elevations of buildings.
Mike Jenkins:
You see it in architecture.
Steve Stack:
Yeah and that hasn’t changed. Some tooling has changed, but its architectural design hasn’t. There are a lot of reference guides available for antique tools in design work. I think it’s fun to visit some of the auction house sites and see what’s available out there. Whether you’re buying a piece similar to our interview desk (our woodworking bench here) and repurposing it or want a tool for its functionality to use day in and day out. You’ve mentioned your personal choice for collections over the years. You were drawn to Stanley. You brought your Stanley Bible along today.
Mike Jenkins:
This book is now 25 years old, but it’s the Stanley Bible. Most of the tools that Stanley made are featured here and described. There’s a price guide that’s now out of date, but it’s a wonderful reference if anyone is ever interested in collecting Stanley. After you own your third Stanley tool, you need to have this to make sure you didn’t make a mistake.
Guide to Vintage Tool Auctions
Steve Stack:
You’re affiliated with a couple of different clubs, organizations, and groups. Some are on the auction side. Let’s talk about that. You have an interest in antique woodworking tool collecting. Yes, we have the internet and Amazon, but beginners don’t know where to start or what to Google. Can you save folks some time and direct them to a couple of key players?
Mike Jenkins:
There are several tool collecting clubs. There are three that I am actively involved with. One here in Ohio is called the Ohio Tool Collectors Association. We have four meetings a year. Sometimes 40 people will show up with tools for sale, exhibits and displays to show off aspects of their collection. There’s a larger group called the Midwest Tool Collectors Association. They have about 3,500 members with just two meetings a year. The next meeting will be in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in June. There, you’ll have maybe 300 or 400 people show up with tools for sale and displays of their collections.
Steve Stack:
You’re going to have to let me know about that because that’s a nice weekend trip to go down and see the exhibits.
Mike Jenkins:
Now, you have to be a member.
Steve Stack:
Oh, you have to be a member of the club?
Mike Jenkins:
Yeah to come, but you can join.
Steve Stack:
We might have to look into that. So, I go to an auction. I go to an antique store or a tool dealer and I buy an antique tool. Depending on its condition and whether I want to use it, make it look pretty, put it on a mantle, or whatever the case may be, how do we jump into tool restoration?
Mike Jenkins:
Before we get to restoration, let’s talk about buying it. A friend of mine once told me, “Know what you buy and buy what you know.” So, you need a little bit of information before you go in and make a purchase. Something like this Stanley book would be a helpful guide to let you know relative rarity. Is this a $1,000 plane or a $10 plane?
Steve Stack:
That’s the kind of length to the field of antique woodworking tools. You can have a $10 plane or you can have a $1,000 plane.
Mike Jenkins:
I was at an auction this past weekend and a little Stanley No. 1 was bought for $1,800. I can sell you a plane about the same size, which is not a Stanley No. 1, for $5. There’s a big difference depending on what you’re looking at. You need a little bit of information before you make that first purchase. You can get the information by talking to other collectors. Most tool collectors are willing to share some of their expertise and help beginning collectors. You can go to tool clubs and see a wider variety of tools there than you will at a local flea market. If you go to the local flea market, you’re going to see some wrenches. You’re going to see some screwdrivers. You’re going to see some beat-up planes, but that’s not what you want to start buying. Buy the best quality you can afford at the time and it’ll hold its value better than a rusty tool or wrench.
Steve Stack:
Part of your Stanley collection was not only the tool but also the original box that the tool came in. So, I’m thinking if you find that, and it’s in mint condition, it’s just hands-off. We don’t touch it.
Mike Jenkins:
Don’t even think about touching it.
Steve Stack:
Exactly. Now, the $5 or $10 ones were possibly from a different era, a later production date or were more mass-produced.
Mike Jenkins:
Well, a couple of things contribute to the value of an old tool. One of them is its rarity. Let’s say Stanley made tool number 5,000. It wasn’t a very popular tool and they only sold a few. Well, today, that’s a rare tool. The rarity adds to its value.
Steve Stack:
Makes sense.
Mike Jenkins:
If they made 1,000 examples of that, then it’s not nearly as rare. You’re going to see more of those on the tables.
Steve Stack:
That probably holds true across all antique woodworking tools.
Mike Jenkins:
Every category.
Steve Stack:
Yeah, all the categories.
Old Hand Tool Restoration and Clean Up
Steve Stack:
Let’s talk about restoration. We’ve talked about your crown plane. It’s a very nice shape. Everything’s nice, tight and secure. What would you do to maintain that appearance?
Mike Jenkins:
Leave it alone and keep it dry.
Steve Stack:
Let’s say I find a similar tool with both wood and metal components, but it has 70 to 80 years of dirt, dust, and grime. How do I address that?
Mike Jenkins:
The least amount of effort is best. I would cautiously take off the old dirt. I wouldn’t use an abrasive, no sandpaper, no scraping, no grinder or anything like that. You don’t need to put elbow grease into it. I use a variety of products for cleaning. The first is called Kotton Klenser. It’s a nice way to take off dirt, grime, oil, and grease. That’s about all you want to do. You don’t want to sand the wood down. You don’t want to use a wire brush or steel wool. You don’t want to make it look like a new plane.
Steve Stack:
That’s similar to if you find a nice, old piece of furniture. Depending on its condition, if you can get it to where it’s still visually attractive to you and it still has that original finish on it-
Mike Jenkins:
Don’t touch it.
Steve Stack:
Right. It’s the same thing with woodworking tools. Well, I’ve had the experience of working with the Kotton Klenser product. It’s very user-friendly. You’re going to get dirty. Months ago you caught me putting the Kotton Klenser Beeswax on it. You said, “A lot of the users don’t like that, because sometimes it’ll get tacky.”
Mike Jenkins:
The collectors, not the users.
Steve Stack:
The collectors. What’s the product that you introduced me to?
Mike Jenkins:
Johnson’s Paste Wax. Just wax the clean wood and that’ll keep other dirt from accumulating on it.
Steve Stack:
Something as easy as the handles on those little hatchets, there’s nothing to it.
Mike Jenkins:
You don’t need anything. Wooden handles have an awful lot of oil from hand use over the last 100 years. That protects the wood just fine. This has evidence of its age, some dings and a little bit of dirt. I wouldn’t do anything to a handle like this.
Steve Stack:
If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.
Mike Jenkins:
That adage applies when you’re doing any kind of restoration. You don’t want to do anything permanent. Everything that you do should be able to be reversed. That way, if the technology in the next 100 years changes, you haven’t done something irreversible.
Steve Stack:
Similar to restoring a piece of artwork. In my eyes, it is. People were pretty proud of their work back in the day. Whether it be Stanley or the manufacturer of that, they’ll put their trademark on them. Do you find that true? Is that helpful to research that particular tool?
Mike Jenkins:
There are reference books around that can give you an idea of when things are made.
Steve Stack:
I know that before you pick a metal block plane up, you start to talk about it and identify it as a Stanley No. 5 or whatever it is. But, you know where to look to find that information on that tool.
Mike Jenkins:
A fair amount of information came from this book, and I’ve studied it for 25 years. So, I know a little bit about what’s in that book. No, I don’t think anyone knows everything that’s in that book.
Steve Stack:
When it comes to antique woodworking tools, Stanley was at the top of the pile?
Mike Jenkins:
They were the pile.
Steve Stack:
Then others started to imitate.
Mike Jenkins:
Well, Stanley made a lot of tools for large hardware companies. Then the hardware companies would have Stanley stamp their name on the Stanley-made tool. Then, there were other smaller offshoots that tried to compete with Stanley. They would make a product that was a little different and perhaps not quite as expensive and maybe not quite as good. The finish was different. The wood was a little different, something like that.
Steve Stack:
Then there was a transitional period from the wood planes to the metal era. I can see there could be a lot of variation in the quality of metal tools, also.
Mike Jenkins:
When the metal planes first came into popularity in the 1860s to 1880s, quality was very important to the buyer. You didn’t see very many shoddy products being sold, because these people earned their living using the tool. They would not use a tool that didn’t hold up.
Steve Stack:
They wouldn’t use one that was inferior.
Mike Jenkins:
Yes. Later on when competitors came in, you got to see some inferior products coming on the market.
Steve Stack:
So, if I want to start collecting Stanley planes, I should narrow my vision.
Mike Jenkins:
Well, you’ve already narrowed it. You said you want to start collecting Stanley planes, not Stanley rules, not Stanley plumb bobs, not Stanley chisels. Stanley planes.
Steve Stack:
Be selective.
Mike Jenkins:
Buy the best quality that you can. It’s going to cost you more money to start with, but it’s going to hold its value.
Steve Stack:
It’s going to hold its value and you’re building a nice collection.
Mike Jenkins:
You can go to a flea market and buy a Stanley No. 5 with a broken handle, an improper blade and a rusty body for $5. You’ll be lucky to sell it for $5 in the next 20 years. You can spend $75 and get one that’s nice and clean. Then, you’ll be able to sell it for that much or perhaps a little bit more, depending on the popularity of tools at the time. But they will come closer to holding their value. Don’t buy rusted tools.
Steve Stack:
I have some of those in the back. You’ve seen them. Those are good tips. If you’re getting started, reach out to the clubs.
Mike Jenkins:
You can get a lot of information from friends and mentors. If you can find a reliable dealer, someone who will stand behind his tools, that’s a wonderful thing to have.
Steve Stack:
We share an acquaintance with Wayne up there at I-76 Antique Mall. One of the little things that catches my eye and intrigues me is cast iron cookware. Wayne is a wizard with cast iron cookware. You take it from his shop, take it home, put it on a stove and use it.
Mike Jenkins:
You can use it, yes.
Steve Stack:
Right. I’m seeing similarities with woodworking tools.
Mike Jenkins:
You don’t want to buy a piece of cast iron that has a crack or has a warp, because it’s never going to get any better. It’s the same thing with that old rusty, improper, broken handle No. 5. It’s not going to heal itself.
Steve Stack:
Right. Spend a little extra and get what you want to have.
From Hand Tools to Electric
Steve Stack:
Within our lifetimes we’ve witnessed the transition from hand tools to electrified tools. Something can be said for both, but if you want that authentic, handmade piece of furniture or a spoke stave for the back of an antique chair that’s broken, there’s only one way to go about it, from what I’m learning.
Mike Jenkins:
If it was a handmade piece of furniture, you’re going to have to reassemble or restore it using hand tools.
Steve Stack:
Yes, to do it the right way. In another episode, we’ll get a little more specific on certain tools. There’s so much opportunity in the antique woodworking tools, from gauges to planes, to saws, and scraper tools. So, we’re going to have a lot to talk about.
Mike Jenkins:
We can.
Steve Stack:
Folks, stay with us. We’re going to have more conversations with Mike Jenkins. Together, we’re going to learn about some antique woodworking tools. We’ve got more fun stuff coming up.
For all you folks listening, thanks for talking shop with Baird Brothers Fine Hardwoods. If you’ve enjoyed this episode and wanted to stay up-to-date with the American Hardwood Advisor podcast series, give us a like and subscribe. For more tips, DIY projects, and inspiration, check us out on Facebook, Instagram, read our tweets, or visit bairdbrothers.com. Until next time.
